The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-08-14
THE SYBIL A ND THE SUCKER
Foolish Believers in the Pretensions
of Fortune TIE ling Frauds.
The Glass of People W no Regularly Consult
Them-Business Me n Seek Their Advice
About Speculations and Investments.

Fortune-tellng and Il ie desire to divine the
future are as old as the human race. Business
was probably at its be- It with augurs OWNERS
and soothsayers in the q Eighty days when Rome
was mistress OF the orld, little ere Caesar
fell Caesar was himself patron of the guild
and his knees knocked together when post
mortem on lot of chicl zen entrails was reported
to be unfavorable. 1t was in Caesars time that
the bulk of the fort unetellng business was
done by men. A few h, inbred years previous to
that the women had thu, cream of the trade. and
In fact, as now, about lonopolized the business
Those who had rie,l their business to the
dignity of high art we called sybils, which is
adapted from the Gre elk words meaning 'the
council of God" S, ,me, of these ladies' were
little cranky. The had fixed price. and an
awfully high one, foi their prophecies, and never
had any closing out sales at half price to make
room for winter stool !. Everybody remembers
that fine old sybil orded by Livy, wLo ap-
peared day befor King Tarquin the Proud,
and offered him nine books for SALE The price
demanded appeared exorbitant to Tarauin.
who was then makinj record for economy, and
he refused to purcha them. The sybil went
away in a hufr destr Dyed three of the volumes,
and returning with u lie remaining SIX asked as
much for them as she had for the original set of
ancient book agent d sparted and destroyed three
more volumes, and nce more offered to sell him
the last remaining til without any abatement
of the original price. This struck Tarquin
rather a strange way of doing business, and he
bought the remaining three books, which were
found TO contain cert ain advice regarding the re-
ligion and policy of the Romans These were
placed in a subterran can chamber of the temple
of Jupiter the Capitol inc hill, and the temple
was DESTROYED by fire 81 E. G.. as Rome had no
compare with the lndiaI lapos ire department
of to-day.
The little yellow birds that are seen in cages
upon street-corners, ant who tell your for
tune. mees, fo' a nee-ke l." by hopping out and
selecting envelope wit h printed legend upon
It, something like a coup let on a candy kiss. s a
much simpler way of dol ng things than the Ro.
mans had. The Roma thought highly of
birds in divning events,s nd the augur twho came
to be something of a boI q no doubt) was an Of
fcer who pretended to foretell future events
by the singing, chatteriu e. flight and feeding of
birds He enlarged his xnow ledge by observing
other signs and omens derived from celestial
phenomena and certain accidents.
1t was the Arabian a strologer who lifted the
what it had ever been before and by his star
gazing gave to the VT 'rld a knowledge of the
heavens, which, Invested of its rubbish, proved
to be valuable. Astroli )gers did not have any
trade with the comm on people They came
high, and only kings and princes, certainly
nothing under a count could afford to patron
ize them. They did nt vt pay much attention to
affairs of love, but 70 retold great events, the
fate of nations and nob, personages. 1t may be
safely set down that 10 astrologer ever adver-
tised follows:
rI'HE ONLY RELIABLE; ORACLE IN THE CITY.
l. Would you know the future9 If you would con.
suit Madame Francesc Gil lhooly the world. renowned
spanish Gypsy on love-, marriage divorce lawsuits.
removals and specuat ions of all kinds. She can adj
wise all in trouble of bdy, mind and estates
the single marry the married to be contented
charms and tasmans; brings the separated together
removes evil influence jealousy locates diseases and
cures once. Advice to ladies' SOC and ST. Three
questions by mail, SO cents in stamps Remember,
Madame Gilhooly eeds where al others fail
There are half sozen in
Indianapolis who N AXE a living by fortune-tell-
ing. Their patron; age does not CONE wholly
from the ignorant, or some of the ctedulous |
are persons who hav fairly good educations and |
who are on other subjects mentally sound. |
There acute bus dness men in this city of |
sufficient gulEbility to make them steady and |
profitable customers TO the fortune-teller They |
go to the sybil to &C insult her about business
affairs, chiefly to speculatons, now and then
as to whether il will be safe to extend the limit |
of credit to Gus toner, or whether it will be |
advisable to make change in travelling men. |
old ana silly kind of humbug from the |
women, and love Is usually the absorbing topic |
of inquiry. that brings the mistress from
the kitchen to the bi faced and shrewd fort
une-teller. 1t seei ningly never occurs to the |
persons who go to he palm-readers to inquire |
and the two with th e female patrons, usually |
go together-why it is that the foreteller herself,
who dive into u ie future at n1Ly cents or
a dollar a dive witho ut any special bathing suit.
as often BOY div rs into the canal on sum-
mer afternoon. doesn It fetch mp something from
the mysterious depth to improve her own con-
dition, for fortunete Hers nearly all of them
poor and live in rams ha exile houses, in uupleas-
art neighborhoods. Foretellers are all past
middle life, and Will 0 they have the receipt for
youth and beauty sale, never use it them
selves The most popular fortune-tellers
lean; a fat forturie..teller meet with
no favor where the ctonventionalities OBJ
served. She is expe cttd to be rather skinny, |
with at least half a-t loz en- less than full COM
pement of teeth a nd the dental loss must be
where it can be readi ly shown by smile The
chief fault with the fortune teller of to-day is
that of the ambition hen. She tries to cover
too many eggs. AS . consequence she gets as
trology. palmistry. necromancy and all the
black arts mixed j, D inextricable confusion. 1t
is not unlikely that the absurdties of her bust
ness would bring he downfall it not for
one good friend. he continued story of the
family weekly holds fast to the fortune teller
q picturesque charac ter of fiction, aud the bud
ding young lady nd the budded servant girl
will abide with her orever.
SOITHERN HOtUSE SERVANTS.